Canucks Acquire Dickinson From Stars

The Vancouver Canucks have acquired Jason Dickinson from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2021 third-round draft pick.

With the pre-expansion trade freeze in full effect, today's flurry of moves are slowly rolling in. 

The Vancouver Canucks appear to be among the busiest teams out there, making one last splash before expansion rosters need to be set by acquiring forward, Jason Dickinson from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. 

Dickinson, a first-round pick in 2013, is coming off a 2021 campaign in which he racked up 15 points in 51 games while playing the role of an effective middle-of-the-lineup forward and penalty killer. Despite logging top-six minutes for the Stars last season, Dickinson likely gives the Canucks the third-line centre they've long been searching, finally solving one of the team's most persistent roster issues after the likes of Brandon Sutter and Jay Beagle failed to stick in recent years. 

As a pending restricted free agent, Dickinson is arbitration-eligible this summer, likely affording the cap-strapped Canucks some financial relief as they attempt to find space for Elias Petterson and Quinn Hughes' impending new deals. The 26-year-old also brings some valuable postseason experience to a Canucks lineup that has acquired little, if any during their tenure together, having played a regular role for the Stars during their run to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2020 playoff bubble. 

For the price of only a third-round pick, this is a nice way for the Canucks front office to kick off one of the most pressure-packed offseasons in recent memory.